These are the times that try (our) souls...

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Does this sound familiar?

"The Congress have met in a bad temper...grumbling at everything in order to avert the responsibility which they have incurred in refusing to provide the solid foundation for revenue and relying on loans.  They have suffered the specie to go out of the country, adopted a halfway system of taxation...and yet expect the war to be carried on with energy."

Could have been an analysis of the failure of the current Congress to act, but it was actually written in a letter to President Madison during the War of 1812.  The only part I took out was about the establishment of a national bank, the rest of it was true then as now.

The material is from the excellent 1812--The Navy's War by George C. Daughan.  I recommend the book to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of why this war helped establish the United States as the strong country it is today, and is especially pertinent as we prepare to commemorate the Bicentennial of the War of 1812, from 2012-2015.

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